The agency’s Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn for nearly 13 years, discovered high levels of hydrogen in a water plume on Enceladus, the planet’s sixth-largest moon.

“We now know Enceladus has almost all the ingredients that you need to support life as you know it on Earth,” said Linda Spilker, a Cassini project scientist, during a briefing that announced the new findings. “This hydrogen is a good source of chemical energy to support life.”

The presence of hydrogen could be the result of a hydrothermal reaction on the ocean floor of Enceladus — which could create food for microbes.

“We have made the first calorie count in an alien ocean,” said Chris Glein, another Cassini scientist.

Cassini also picked up water, traces of ammonia, carbon dioxide and methane in Enceladus’ water plume.

NASA researchers said there was no evidence yet that organisms existed on Enceladus.

Another plume was also found on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons that’s covered in ice and has twice as much ocean as Earth underneath that surface.

NASA will soon research Europa through its Europa Clipper Mission, set to launch sometime in the 2020s.

The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter with close flybys of Europa to measure its ocean and ice and will use instruments like magnetometers, ice-penetrating radars and UV spectrometers to collect data.